Fallout 3 confirmed for 360, PS3

The fog of mystery that has surrounded Fallout 3 for the past several years is rapidly dissipating. Yesterday, developer/publisher Bethesda Softworks revealed that the long-awaited role-playing game will arrive in fall 2008--some 10 years after Fallout 2. The confirmation came in the form of a teaser trailer, which showed off around two minutes of in-engine footage and confirmed several story and setting details.

One thing Bethesda did not confirm was which platforms Fallout 3 would be arriving on. Though originally developed for the PC, the game officially remains only a "next-generation" title. However, the fact that Bethesda's last RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, was simultaneously released for the Xbox 360 and PC and later ported to the PlayStation 3 led many to believe Fallout 3 would arrive on all three platforms.

Though Bethesda is still publicly mum on the subject, the question of Fallout 3's platforms was also answered this week. Not long after the trailer debuted, Game Informer posted the cover for its July issue, which confirms that Fallout 3 will indeed arrive on the PC, PS3, and 360 in 2008. Sources close to Bethesda said the information on the GI cover was accurate, but would not go into further details.

The GI cover also added ammo to the theory that Fallout 3 would be a major departure from previous PC Fallouts and the widely despised console spin-off, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. The magazine claims that Bethesda's goal has been to "reinvent" the RPG, which was originally a top-down turn-based title, into an all-new "open-ended RPG." Both Fallout and Fallout 2 offered open-ended gameplay with many side quests inside a larger, linear storyline, as did Oblivion.